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Australia: What is your health's Worth?

by Medindia Content Team on Mar 15 2006 6:08 PM

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has said that measures taken to check the spread of communicable diseases like HIV-AIDS, account for large sums in public health expenditure. Preventive Health Initiatives by Governments, aim at a healthy community and according to statistics, these spending are just $68 a year on each South Australian.

In 2002-03, about $77 million was expended on public health programs in South Australia. Nearly $23.7 million was sourced from Federal grants and the remaining was chipped in by the State Government. According to the AIHW, 15 per cent of the SA population are aged 65 or above.

It is estimated that, expenditures towards public health initiatives is less than 2 per cent of all health spending. AIHW expenditure unit head Tony Hynes said “It costs a hell of a lot more to intervene after someone has contracted a disease." Therefore, it is better to spend on prevention of the disease rather than the cure.


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